Politikuing the Obama Administration's First 100 Days

Politiku is my attempt to capture the ever morphing emotional response to the political landscape. I began posting them on my blog less than a year ago during the 2008 DNC. Shortly after, I was inspired to Politiku about Sarah Palin and before I knew it, my then low-traffic blog was getting Politiku submission from people who'd discovered what I was up to through the search engines. Since Facebook informed me which of my friends were in D.C. for the inauguration, soliciting eyewitness Politikus for the event was a piece of cake. Then, the first 100 days began. Some of the Politikus were written earlier on. The bulk of them, however, were written in response to a day 99 Facebook summons and are posting as a retrospective on the 101st day.

Structurally, Politiku draws its inspiration from Haiku, the traditional Japanese 17-syllable, 5-7-5 poem that most of you probably learned about in 5th grade. Like Haiku, Politiku is characterized by a Kigo, or seasonal reference. Here's the variation, though. Politiku replaces the traditional Kigo with a contemporary political reference. Politiku also draws inspiration from the Senryu, a more playful variation of Haiku that reveals insights about human nature, rather than insights about natural world, the way that Haiku does.

There is some debate as to whether or not westerners should be adapting that traditional 5-7-5 haiku structure we all know so well but I've chosen to stick with it and here's why. Politics is anything but relaxing. Even hearing the good news can be stressful at times. What I've found with Politiku, however, is that the 5-7-5 restriction gives a sense of stability to the experience of writing it.

The fact that I am now able to use media like blogs and Facebook (and, yes, eventually, I will also have to start to tweet) to summon multiple simultaneous responses on any given political stimulus is amazingly grounding, nurturing and comforting. I've also found the sense solidarity it creates to be surprisingly addictive.

While the Politikus in this post were solicited from friends (many of whom have been regular loyal Politiku contributors) during the 24 hours leading up to Obama's historic first 100 days milestone, I encourage anyone who enjoys reading them to give it a shot. If you like what you come up with, please post it and as long as it is topical and adheres to the structures I have outlined, I'll add it to the post.